Skull-smash horror
Ga. student beaten with ‘disfiguring’ head blows
The Venezuelan migrant charged with murdering Laken Riley allegedly beat her so brutally with an unidentified object that he disfigured her skull, according to new affidavits.
Jose Antonio Ibarra, 26, who faces multiple murder and assault charges, is not thought to have known the 22-year-old nursing student when he allegedly kidnapped and killed her as she went for a run on the University of Georgia campus last Thursday.
Her cause of death had only been given as blunt-force trauma, with new charging documents accusing Ibarra of causing “great bodily harm with an object,” without specifying exactly what it was.
But Ibarra was also charged with aggravated battery for “seriously disfiguring her body . . . by disfiguring her skull,” according to the affidavits shared by Fox News.
Ibarra also is charged with preventing Riley “from making or completing a 911 call” with “intent to harm” when he allegedly snatched her during her run, the affidavit says.
He then dragged Riley’s body to a secluded area, the affidavit said in support of a charge for concealing the student’s death.
Ibarra faces eight charges, including felony murder, false imprisonment and kidnapping and concealing the death of another. Authorities said there is no evidence he knew Riley.
The attack took place between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. Thursday, according to the documents filed in Athens-Clarke County Superior Court.
Meanwhile, Athens-Clarke County DA Deborah Gonzalez announced Monday that she’s appointing a special prosecutor for the case, WANF-TV reported.
Last year, Ibarra twice slipped through the hands of law enforcement — and could have been deported after a Big Apple bust.
He was arrested in Queens on Aug. 31 and charged with endangering a child, but was released before immigration officials could file a request to ask local cops to hold him in custody, authorities said Monday.
Ibarra also was wanted on an arrest warrant in Georgia for blowing off a shoplifting court appearance in December, according to state Rep. Houston Gaines (R-Ga.). Ibarra was arrested at a Walmart in Athens, Ga., on Oct. 27 and charged with shoplifting, an arrest report shows
“ICE confirmed what we already know: Jose Ibarra was in the country illegally,” Gaines posted on X Monday. “What the media hasn’t reported was that he was cited in Athens for shoplifting in Oct. — & there was a bench warrant for his arrest for failing to show in court.”
Ibarra entered the US illegally on Sept. 8, 2022. With Wires